I have Vonage, and I am very happy with the service.  None of my client know the difference in the phone call or service.  What is great is that you can get your message anywhere USA as long as you have internet access or you can call the line from a landline to get message.  You can even get access to your voicemail through your email.  I even have Vonage as a fax line.  It is great because my phone bill are about the same every month were as with ATT it could get as high as 350.00 a month for the same volume of calls.  Let's face it we need to save money where ever we can.

I had never see this product.  I just have one phone system with cable modem now which provides everything, phone, Internet, cable TV.

Anthony-  Welcome to our e-PR Group!!!! I am unfamiliar with this product, but have heard good things about vontage recently.

Anthony - VOIP sounds like it has potential, but I have never heard of it. Welcome to the ActiveRain e-PRO group.

I guess for $40 you can't go wrong for giving it a try.

Thanks for the info.

I use it everyday it works fine on the many calls I make thoughout the US. I do a lot of cold calling for potential clients.  It save a lot on my phone bill each month. You can even forget ATT after you use it. Its like the Post Office made money  on mailing letters and lost when e-mail and the computer era came around.

Spending only $1.67 a month on the service per month I cannot even buy a small ice cream at Frosty's.

The first year you pay about $40 because you get the MagicJack along with the service. Its "Plug and Play" meaning no CD to install. The next year you pay about $20 thereafter. 

Buy a Uniden TRU series Digital phone then you will love the service and reception with unlimited free calls  throughout the  USA  and Canada. You can even take MagicJack with you to Europe and connect it to the internet there and call your home in the US for free. You get your own unique phone,call forwarding and voice mail included.  Within 3 days after you place your order you see it in the mail and can use it within a few minutes. You must have an Windows XP or Vista installed on your Computer.

Its Great, I'm happy I ordered it. 

This is the phone I use. works great and very clear sound. You will never know I'm using a Magic Jack plugged in an XP computer.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16876105094

I use Magic Jack too! It sounds like my ATT landline phone...clean as a whistle reception.

Its great and I think everyone should get one. If you do business you know how your phone bills get cranked up each month and you pay lots of government tax. This is a bargain price you won't see anywhere and pay no tax. They price have fixed amount per year.

You can now buy it on e-bay and if you like you can bid on it but I think its still going to be near the $47 for the first year  and about $20 the next year you would normally pay. I think you eventually will see em in a retail store as seen on TV.

 http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?from=R40&_trksid=m37&satitle=magic+jack&category0=

 http://cgi.ebay.com/MagicJack-Magic-Jack-VoIP-FREE-Calls-To-and-From-U-S-A_W0QQitemZ320199756200QQihZ011QQcategoryZ61841QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Forget Vonage,ATT and all those long distance phone service, etc. 

They give you a 30 day free trial and you don't get charged for a month. If you don't like it they give you a refund.  You have a real phone number with an area code and number.voicemail,call forwarding,e-mail if you missed the call along with voice message. You can even change your phone number free 1 time. 

You won't miss any calls on this on this service.

I use UNIDEN TRU series digital phones too. They are great phones with no buzz or static on the lines. Don't use those cheapy analog phones that you buy for under $10 to $15 throw those in the garbage can.

Have a happy merry christmas and a happy new year for 2008.

I am not familar with the USB Voip system, but if it works as well as my Vonage system I am game.  There were problem with Voip in the beginning because of bandwidth issues.  I can imagine that with the new device you will be able to receive and answer call on your computer.  The technology is only making a phone call cheap.  The old way is out, and will be replaced.  AT&T will be converting to the system or they will be AT&T who?

I have been using it for a couple of weeks now and it is great. It worked better than when I had Vonnage but that was over three years ago. Now I can use that number in my marketing and either take it with me or forward it to whatever number I am at or both.

Thanks for the comments.

I am not familiar with this product, but it looks like it might come in handy, especially if you have access to the internet with this.

Great for out of town trips it is about the size of my cellphone therefore very portable.

Don't spend too much time thinking about it.....At $20 for the unit and $20/year, how can you lose?  I have it and it works fine!  It's worth $20/year for the voicemail alone!  I kept my land line because I didn't want to lose connectivity for a week while waiting for a dry loop (DSL only).  So now I have 2 lines.  One costs me $40/mo, the other costs me $20/year.

A couple of my friends have bought it and are happy with it. I am thinking of giving it as gifts to a few relatives. That way we can reduce the cost of live communication.

Hi Anthony. Thanks for sharing the great tip! Keep them coming.

I love the Magic Jack.  I turned off my home ATT phone.  I went from $50 a month for basic residential service to $20 a YEAR for unlimited calls.  Calls are clear as a bell.

Sounds pretty neat.  I still have DSL so I need a land line at the moment.  May change back to cable soon.

I've had my MJ a few weeks. I just CANCELLED my AT&T. For this price I am VERY happy. My area code is not listed yet - so my MJ is used for outgoing calls and my local friend who also has a MJ - and my cell phone can be reserved for local incoming calls.  (Local incoming calls will be charged a long distance charge for calling my non-local telephone number)  I also get free long distance calls, voicemail, etc.  By saving the cost of AT&T (I really only used my landline for Dialup Internet) - now I can afford CABLE internet. I also have VISTA on my computer and have had no problems there. Most of my VISTA problems are with their "updates." With MJ sometimes there is a little crackling of a voice - but hopefully the reception will continue to improve. Try doing the FIX as that is where I think they are making improvements. When/if they get my area code - I will be even more impressed. 2 months without AT&T and MJ will have paid for itself. I am not a reseller or affiliated with MJ - I'm just a single person trying to afford to live.  If you don't like it there is a 30 day free trial. If you can live with a few of the inconsistancies until they are improved, you can save a lot of money. I've looked a long time all over the Internet for something to replace my landline - and this is the only thing AFFORDABLE I could find and it is worth the time to figure it out and work with it. I just hope enough people do give it a try so they will stay in business and not go up on the price.

I am in my 3rd of trail. I love it. I will be purchasing 3 more for relatives.

Hi Anthony. I picket this up this handy little gadget about two weeks ago. So far I love it! The only thing I don't like is that it doesn't let you block your number using the *67 method. Another drawback is that when my computer is off then so is my phone service (I'll still get an email if someone leaves a message). Other than that it works great.

Vincent

why would you want to block your number, quite a few people do it and I don't get it. If you expect me to answer There need to be a number or call someone else. I consider block numbers as spam and treat it as such (ignore).

Gene, Elaine, Jacqueline,

My kids are about to lose their cell phones to magic jack.

They created a monster bill for me last month. Their cell phone were intended for emergencies. They think it for been cool and talks 24/7. They $60 will be a bargain for me. 

I love new technology. This looks like something that will be useful.

I saw this before. I have VOIP service with Phonepower.com for 20 bucks a MONTH. It's been great. The only reason I hesitate with the MJ is that the computer always has to be on. That's a bit of a pain I think.

It on most of the time anyway and you can forward incoming calls to any number you want. Its about half the size of the blackberry pearl and so very portable. Also perfect for talkative teens. 

I would love to try this, but I have to have a fax line.  Have you been able to use it to fax?  I was just discussing this lastnight at a dinner party. Keep us posted!

My experience:

I can't get MagicJack to work.  I tried for 3-4 months.  Lots of Live Chats with their techs.  Innumberable downloads and installations of Fixes.

I gave up.

But I adore Voip in general.  I've been using it 3+ years.  First Voip.com now Broadvox.  Using Voip for voice and MyFax.com for fax has saved me at least $2K off my previous annual phone bill.

First off the 30d trial does not exist! they charged me the next day, then i told the I/M thing (that i think is just A.I programs No real people)you charged me they removed the charge so i thought, really they canceled my order then a few weeks later i found out they did not even have a record of me on there canceled order database, Im waiting for the magicjack not knowing my order was canceled. I re-order get it its cool for a few weeks sometimes bad connection but ok for the cheep price. They charge me for it again yes i was double charged. and they denied the fact that they did  so. No 800# just some I/M Bot program live person yeah right. I had to dispute the charge at my bank got the money back from my bank cause of my fraud protection. MJ my refused me a refund. so i still have it it works either crystal clear or not at all. 50/50. if this is how they do business they will be bankrupt soon! buyer beware. still its a cheap phone if you can get it to work use your own discretion. be careful

Nancy:I do not like using voip for faxes. Did not have a good experience with that when i tried vonnage.

Laura, Chan

The performance problem could be related to your internet speed. I have upgraded to fios and my magic Jack is glitchless. An acquaintance just called to to say she had bought 3 and then 5 additional ones. 

My brother told me about this magic jack. He said that he likes it a lot. I plan on getting one myself hopefully soon. Thanks for sharing. Great post.

Although I've heard some negative comments, I think it's worth a try.  The cost is too minimal to not try.  I'm planning to get one for use as a home office line.  It'll also be good for long distance calls when I near my cell limit or have a dead battery.

The price is great.  I have two problems...I still run Win 200 Pro, so I won't be able to use it, and...if the computer isn't on, no phone service.  What about an emergency situation, especially late at night.

I've opted for a Voip Company paying $24.95/month, and if I pay annually, it is only $19.95/month.  I get free long distance to lots of countries around the world (yes, that includes the US & Canada), and I can take my phone # with me anywhere in the world I can connect to the web.  I have all the extra's the phone company charges extra for...for no additional charge, plus if I want to see who I am talking to, I can get their video phone, which I will be doing soon.  You can't do that with Vonnage.

They have a business referral plan too.  I refer someone and if they get the service, I get a small piece of every phone bill they pay for as long as they keep the service.  I know a guy in Chicago who makes over $12,000/month on these referral fees...because...if the people he refers, refers someone, and they refer someone, and they refer someone else, etc...he gets a small bit of all of those phone bills, and it just keeps growing.  Subtract his $24.95/month from $12,000 and his monthly phone bill is now free.

And I cannot tell the difference when talking on this phone line verses the house line we used to pay $75/month for, except for one thing...the cost is much cheaper.  Anyone curious???  Drop me an email at SavingYourHome@gmail.com or go to my Active Rain page and call me.

I was wondering about this. i'm glad you posted it so I can read all the comments, souds like mostly positive. Think I'll give it a try.

Hi Anthony. It's been a couple months now and the Magic Jack has made me a bit more efficient. It's now my "office" number and people are calling me directly to that number (people who's caller ID picks up my number). I went out of state for the fourth of July weekend and no one that called me (or that I called) had a clue that I was on a weekend vacation. It's very afforable and I can take it with me wherever I go. Coolest little tool I have!!

P.S. Point well taken from your previous response.